Troubled Minds
by Juliet'sReplacement
Summary: Tifa meets a nice young man at the bar one night. Is Cloud... jealous? And... well, what is he going to do about it? Uh oh. You'd better run. Post Advent Children. Oneshot.


Tifa shot another quick glance at Cloud before going downstairs to open the bar. The blonde man just sat on the edge of his bed, hands on his knees, staring downward. Why did he always have to get himself hurt? She had only just healed him with materia before he drags himself back, and in almsot worse condition, too.

Sighing and shaking her head slightly as she reached the bottom step, Tifa gave the bar a cursory glance, making sure everything was in order. The clock still said the opening time. Tifa walked over to the door, her hips swaying slightly, and unlocked the bar door before opening it. She brushed a few strands of near-black hair out of her face before going and standing behind the bar, sighing again. Why couldn't Cloud just keep himself out of trouble? If she knew him at all, any minute now he would come silently down those stairs, huge sword strapped to his back, ready to go right back out and fight monsters again.

Tifa glanced at the door as the first of the people walked in, and automatically smiled at the man.

"Hi, welcome to _Seventh Heaven,_" she said cheerfully, testimony to the complete opposite of how she felt inside; depressed, unhappy, quiet.

"Thanks," he said with a small smile. It made Tifa's heart take a leap- and then a dip. She didn't know this man, he wasn't one of the usual, but... the smile looked like Cloud's. That small, shy smile, the smile of a man who wasn't sure if he belonged but was almost sure he didn't. The way the corners twisted up...

"So what can I get you?" Tifa asked with another smile at the man. "Beer, whiskey, lighter drink?"

"Ah... do you have any vodka?" the man asked, and seemed almost uncomfortable. But she just smiled at the man again, and nodded.

"Sure." Tifa filled a shot glass with the heavy-duty, clear liquid, then slid it down the bar to where the man had sat at one of the stools on the end.

"Thanks," he said again, and Tifa smiled brightly at him, brushing her almost-black hair out of her eyes again.

"No problem."

Others gradually began coming in, at first one at a time, then more as the evening lengthened. Soon the bar was almost full, and Tifa was barely given a moment to herself as she was filling, refilling, re-re-filling. But one of the things that surprised her most was that after the initial shot, the young man who had come in first just sat there, staring into the small glass. He didn't ask for any more. Even at some point, when Tifa asked him if he wanted a refill, he shook his head mutely, his eyes staying fixed on the top of the bar. At the time, she had just shrugged with another smile, and went back to work. But her eyes strayed to him more and more, and when most of the now-drunk customers had gone home, he remained. Tifa leaned against the inside of the bar at the opposite end, just observing.

The young man appeared to be about the same age as Cloud, and had a mess of bright brown hair that sometimes hung down over his eyes. It went down to the lobe of his ear, and got slightly wavy near the ends. His eyes were a dull color... Tifa could say that they were greener than hazel, but more hazel than green. She really couldn't describe them too well. And... again, she remembered when he had smiled. When he had, he really did smile like Cloud. So Tifa decided that she wanted to learn more about him, because... the young man reminded her so much of Cloud. Just... a brown-haired Cloud.

"So," she said decisively, coming over with a smile. "What's your name?"

He looked up with a little surprise at her, his greenish eyes startled. "Um... My... my name is Damon," he stated with a halfhearted smile. Tifa's heart gave another little pang. Instead, she smiled at him again.

"Hi, Damon." He studied her for a second, presumably waiting for a response of her name. When she said nothing, he ventured, "What's yours?"

"My name is Tifa," she said lightly, leaning her waist against the bar. She rested one elbow on it, and rested her chin in her hand. This Damon was nice, she observed. But polite. He wasn't the kind of boy who liked women only for their... assets. And Tifa had very _nice_ assets. However, Damon's eyes were on her face, not her chest.

"Tifa," he repeated with another heart-wrenching smile. "I'll remember that. So, you run this place?"

"I do," she confirmed with another small smile. "Since... since around the time my dad died."

"I'm sorry," Damon said, and Tifa detected real empathy in his voice. But not sympathy.

"It's not your fault. I take it that yours is still..." Tifa trailed off, sure that he would know what she was getting at.

"Kinda," he said, uncomfortable again. Damon returned his morose gaze to the empty shot glass.

"I'm sorry," Tifa apologized immediately for making him uncomfortable.

"Don't be. My dad, he... he's just a little... off." Damon tapped his temple with his middle finger, and Tifa understood. Damon's father had a mental problem.

"I'm sorry," she said again, but Damon waved it away.

"It's not your fault," he echoed with another small smile. Tifa smiled back, liking him more and more. He was polite, kind, and a bit funny. When he chose to be, of course.

Suddenly, Tifa felt a thick arm wind around her waist. Glancing back in surprise, she saw a mess of blonde hair, followed by a pair of cerulean eyes that always held her speechless.

"Cloud!" she said in surprise. Mostly, the surprise came from his actions. He normally didn't do something like this.

"Tifa," he responded quietly in that easy, soft way of his. "Who's this?"

"Oh! Um. Damon, Cloud, Cloud, Damon," she said quickly, still trying to piece together how he had come down the stairs without noticing her.

"Hello, Cloud," Damon said politely, but with no smile. Cloud responded with a curt nod that Tifa could feel against her hair. She ground her elbow into his ribs lightly, hoping he would get the message: _Play nice._

Cloud's arm just tightened slightly around her waist, and she knew he understood. Then Damon stood up, pushing the long-empty shot glass forward a few inches. He began to put the money down on the bar, but Tifa stopped him.

"This one's free," she said with another smile at him, and was rewarded with that small, slight smile of his once again.

"Thank you," Damon replied, and it was heartfelt. Tifa nodded, and the young man walked out, appearing a little more cheerful. However, no sooner was he gone than Tifa felt herself being pulled up the stairs, Cloud's muscular arm still around her waist.

"Hey!" she protested. But he practically dragged her up the stairs. "I need to lock up, I need to clean the bar, let me go!" Her excuses made no difference on Cloud, who continued to tug her up the stairs by her waist until they walked into her room. He swung her around, closing the door with his other hand. His cerulean blue eyes bored into her reddish-brown ones, and Tifa found herself almost holding her breath with how... _intense_ his eyes were.

"What... are you doing?" she asked him, putting her hands on her hips. It took nearly all of her willpower to maintain her glare at the blonde man, but she managed.

"He was flirting with you."

"So what?" exclaimed Tifa, paying zero attention to the clock on the wall. "Cloud, I swear... If..."

"If?"

Tifa lost it. She whipped around on Cloud, her eyes burning. "If you don't want me, Cloud, then say so! If you don't want me, then dammit, tell me so I know that I'm free to talk to anyone I want!" she shouted at him, her hands fisted. And then she clocked him. Tifa pulled her right fist back, and let it snap forward with almost all of the power she had in her body.

Cloud remained still through this, not even bothering to try to stop her, even when Tifa knew he could have. She blinked, shocked at herself. Cloud wordlessly turned his face back to face her, and his cerulean eyes snapped with an invisible, electric blue fire, partially veiled by his pale golden locks. And then he did something she didn't expect.

One of his hands went forward, cupping the side of her face and pulling her to him. His mouth closed over hers, and Tifa's reddish eyes went wide with shock. However, she didn't pull away. A slight sound escaped her, but Cloud just sealed his lips over hers more completely. Tifa's eyelids gradually began to drift shut, and her slim hands made their way up to the back of Cloud's neck, tangling her fingers in the golden hair on the back of his head. Cloud's muscular arms snaked around Tifa's upper back, holding her even closer to him. And at the moment... Tifa didn't mind that so much. They both sank to the wooden floor in her room, still holding onto each other.

The kiss seemed to last for forever, which was sounding better and better to Tifa. When they finally broke apart, Tifa could only stare into the sea of endless cerulean blue. Cloud's eyes... his eyes could always say a million different things that his thin mouth never could. And what Tifa saw in them... It made her stretch her face up to his again, locking their lips together once more. Cloud was clearly surprised, but he couldn't say anything, even if he wanted to. Mainly because his mouth was busy.

And Tifa liked that idea. She really, really liked that idea.

Cloud responded to Tifa, and when this kiss was over she just laid her head against Cloud's cloth-covered chest, her eyes nearly shut. Cloud's hands slipped down to her thighs, and he pulled her even closer to him that way. The faintest of blushes flitted across Tifa's cheeks, but she ignored it, wrapping her arms around Cloud's neck. He stood, holding her up off the ground in his arms, and carried her over to the bed.

"Cloud, what are you-" His lips silenced hers, and Tifa suddenly was distracted. Cloud put a knee on the bed, slipping her down onto the mattress. However, his mouth still was on hers. He sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping their mouths pressed together, and his warm, calloused hands slid up Tifa's waist under her shirt. Her hands rested on his wrists now, not encouraging him, not stopping him. There was a pause in the kissing as her shirt separated their faces for a moment, then Cloud's mouth was on Tifa's again, and as they continued, one of her slim hands tugged lightly on the zipper to his navy blue woven shirt. As soon as it was undone, her hands explored the perfectly sculpted planes of his chest and abs, learning her way by feel.

The night was magical to Tifa, and as she lay against Cloud, his cerulean eyes closed with both hands around her, resting on her waist, her own eyes beginning to drift shut, her last thought was that she had forgotten to clean up the bar...


End file.
